Reunions
by Shimizuggi
Summary: Bright colours. Laughter. Loud music. Headache would soon follow. Great Dragon, why did he ever agree with this? Oneshot.


**Author's note:** Oneshot without a proper purpose. What could be more fun? Haha.  
This was inspired by something my friend said (quote included); let's see if she spots that.

* * *

Bright colours. Laughter. Loud music. Headache would soon follow.

Great Dragon, why did he ever agree with this?

Only few hours earlier, Hagen had left his isolation and even his home planet. He had lived years without having a single conversation. Attending any kind of party would have been uncomfortable enough, let alone a party full of teenagers.

It felt like a punishment. Or maybe it was. Hagen wouldn't have been surprised if Faragonda wanted him to come just to punish him for his stubbornness, which had led to his solitude. He had tried to refuse but he had been confronted by sneaky tricks. Batting eyes. Soft voice and well-chosen words. Warm-hearted smile. Damn, why she always had to do that.

So there he stood. In a great hall, which was decorated with bright and lively colours. Among everyone, yet alone. He had been left on his own almost right after he arrived. He grew tired of being accidentally elbowed by everyone. This wasn't really his thing. He had to get out. It wasn't like anyone would have noticed.

Carefully, he sneaked between the students and their prom dates, even without stepping on anybody's feet. He spotted the door and quickened his pace, regretting it greatly. His leg got caught on a dress hem. He staggered, tripped and managed to hit his head on a table. No one was fool enough to laugh.

Rubbing his temples, he lifted himself up. Among the clouds, which began to fill his vision, he noticed someone approaching him. A lady in a long dress with the colours of the night sky.

Faragonda.

She was smiling. She always was. And why not? This night especially was something that she'd be happy about. The graduation. Some of her students had finished their education, and what ever it contained, it must have been hard work for the now former students and the headmistress herself. Seeing results of hard work was something to smile for. And yet there was something sad in that too.

Farewells.

How Faragonda managed to get through so many of them, he didn't know.

Faragonda offered her hand, which Hagen gladly took. She might have seen his fall. Maybe she could have gotten him out of there.

She led him through the mass, getting much more space to move in than Hagen by himself. But wait… The door was in a different direction.

"There are few who'd love to meet you."

What?

"Hagen! Well, isn't it great to see you again!" Before Hagen even realized, a tiny man patted his arm in a friendly way. "You haven't changed at all."

Wait, who was this man? Long hair, dragonhead staff…

"Saladin?"

"Is something wrong, my old friend? You look almost gloomier than Griffin," Saladin noted, earning a cold look from the witch.

"Nothing, this is just… Shocking." Shocking? More like unpleasant. Not because of them, but things they resembled him of. Dark times. Loss of people who he held dear.

Saladin laughed. "You bet we were shocked when Faragonda told you're here. How did you manage to get him out of there?"

Hagen just now realized that Faragonda had been holding his hand the whole time. She gave him a faint squeeze. "He wasn't too reluctant."

"That's surprising," Saladin mentioned jokingly. Smile spread across his face. "This feels nostalgic. Only if Miriam and Oritel would be here too."

"But they are not," Hagen mumbled. And it was his fault. He could have saved them. "I need some air." As he stomped towards a balcony, only thing he paid attention to was Faragonda's hand slowly slipping off his own.

He slammed the glass door shut and leaned on the railing. Was Saladin implying something? No, at least not that Saladin that Hagen had known. And if this Saladin did, he wasn't sure. He wasn't sure if he even knew the people he used to call his friends. And Hagen couldn't blame anyone but himself of that.

He was the one that left everyone. He was the one that chose not to continue living. He chose to be alone, to build a robot army to keep everyone away. He chose to grow old and bitter. He despised himself for that.

Time went by in a painfully slow way. Only thing he could do was watching fireworks shooting up. A boy came to question him and Hagen began to feel that leaving Hoggar might have not been a good idea.

"There are so many reasons to fight," he told the boy, who introduced himself as Riven.

"Tell me some."

Luckily, Riven's most-likely girlfriend dragged him away. Hagen was fed up of all the questions that day.

Soon, he heard heels clicking behind him. "You know, they'd really like to talk to you." Faragonda stepped next to him. Her smile was gone. How long had it been like that?

Hagen frowned. "Reunions aren't really my thing."

"Didn't seem so hard earlier."

"You were a different case."

"Oh, really?" He felt Faragonda's curious gaze on him, but decided not to respond.

She leaned on the railing and watched as fireworks shot up high into the sky. "I understand why you decided to stay here. The view is beautiful."

Hagen eyed her lazily from head to toes. Apparently, his thoughts wanted to be voiced, "Yes, it sure is." He lifted his gaze back to the sky when her eyes met his.

She obviously got the message and chuckled. "You're just saying."

"Don't laugh, I'm serious."

"I thought you sweet side was hidden under that stony shell." Faragonda placed her hand lightly on his. "I was thinking… If you're not ready to face Saladin and Griffin, would you at least join me?"

"What?"

She held her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. "Or isn't the view pretty enough inside?"

"I didn't say—"

"Hagen, this isn't a suggestion. You must now come with me or I'll throw a tantrum, you old idiot."

Hagen couldn't help but laugh. He knew he had to give up. "Wouldn't take that risk."

Faragonda smiled and gripped his hand tightly, practically dragging him inside.

And the rest of the night wasn't bad at all.


End file.
